"The Start of Something New" (closed)

[MarieDavisRPs]

Robert checked with Marie that she didn't find housework women's work, to which she said, "Not at all. And to be honest, I'd rather be washing dishes and dusting surfaces than pitchforking goat poopy straw." She laughed, asking, "Can I use pitchforking as a verb?"

They finished eating, divided the day's work, and parted ways. Marie eyed Robert and Craig as they headed out; she smiled to the teen as he peeked back at her and was tempted to wink knowingly to him but restrained herself. Once she was alone, she returned to the bedroom to change -- closing the window and pulling the drapes fully in place first -- then went to work. Robert had been correct when he'd said that housework wasn't the guys' thing. Every horizontal surface except for the eating and food prep surfaces -- which they used daily -- was coated with dust; corners here and there included cobwebs and assorted debris, likely blown in through opened doors and windows; and everywhere she looked, she found clothes tossed over the backs of furniture, hooks, and more.

Despite the domestic nature of the work, Marie found that she enjoyed it. Oh, she'd done housework in previous positions, of course, but more often than not cleaning and cooking had been secondary to the things she was doing with the orifices in her body. It was nice to work knowing that she was going to keep her clothes on and her masters' cocks out of her.

Marie had continued working energetically for a couple of hours when -- while taking a blanket out to air on a line -- she remembered the quilt she'd stolen and taken out to the briars. Looking and finding the men working on the other side of the house, she rushed out to her hiding spot to retrieve the blanket. It took longer this time around; Marie was doing her best not to snag Carolyn's clothes on the thorns or get them dirty when she had to drop to her fours to crawl.

She managed to get out of the briars clean and unseen, rushing back to the cabin to hide the quilt; she would find a way to wash it later when the men were busy elsewhere. As the sun got close to the line of trees and shrubs paralleling the gorge to the west, Marie called out, "What do you want for dinner, my hard-working men?"

She set about preparing dinner and was almost ready to put it on the table by the time Robert and Craig cleaned up and came inside.

 

[HumanBean]

Robert and Craig had spent many hours over the winter planning this year's planting. They rotated the location of crops each year for several reasons. Rotation ensured that the nitrogen producers and users took turns on any one piece of ground. Different plants had different effects on the soil with regards to compaction and aeration. And moving crops around tended to reduce pest infestations, particularly cucumber beetles and aphids.

They'd rotated the stock animals through the garden area to keep the weeds down between harvest and now, too. Using scythes, they cut down whatever the animals hadn't eaten, which hadn't been much. Today, they spent most of their time putting up the fences meant to keep the animals out once they began planting. Oh, the animals would be pissed about it, of course. And the goats in particular would do anything and everything they could to get into the fenced areas as soon as they saw delicious shoots coming up through the soil.

But then that was what the electric fence was all about. Back before the apocalypse, Robert and Carolyn had used electric to restrain the goats and pigs from areas they weren't supposed to be in. A windmill wired to a small bank of deep voltage, RV batteries provided the power source. Some of the batteries had given out over the years. But really, it only took one shock for each new animal to learn not to touch the wires, so within a couple of days of powering the fence up, Robert could turn it off and all would be well again.

Marie called from the door, "What do you want for dinner, my hard-working men?"

Robert and Craig looked to each other with reminiscing expressions. Carolyn used to holler out to them in a similar way, though, usually it was to tell them that dinner was already ready. Robert waved his acknowledgement of the question, then called back, "Anything you want to cook! We aren't picky when we don't have to do it ourselves!"

They spent another half hour or so testing the electric fence with a high-resistance piece of metal. It shocked them but with barely more than a tingle. Once they were sure the fence was operational, they killed the power, put away their tools, went to the well to clean up, and headed inside after slipping out of the dirty boots, coats, and gloves.

"Smells incredible," Robert said as he entered, looking back to find his son nodding enthusiastically. They changed into clean clothes, helped Marie set the table and move food to it, and sat down for a wonderful meal. "You're going to spoil us like this, Marie. Thank you."

After they'd finished, Robert gestured Marie to a seat near the fire, telling her, "You cooked. We'll clean up."

He and Craig did the dishes, put away the leftovers, and took the scraps outside to the bucket that would feed the stock animals the next morning. Sitting down themselves, the men talked about what they'd done and complimented their housekeeper on how incredible the house looked.

Robert enjoyed looking at his new housemate and fought to maintain his gaze off her delicious breasts and legs. He noticed that Craig had a harder time at doing that, though. On two separate occasions when he'd glanced at Marie's womanly featured, then glanced to his father, Robert had given him a chastising glare that seemed to have the appropriate effect.

"I think it's time to call it a night," Robert finally said after he'd caught both Marie and Craig suppressing a yawn. "It's been a long day, and we all put in a good day's work."

He stood and with Craig pushed the furniture back to make room for the mattress against the wall behind the couch. "Craig will sleep with me in my room tonight, Marie. You take the mattress out here."

Robert knew that Marie might try to fight him, perhaps even offering to take the couch or sleep on a stack of extra blankets on the floor. But he'd insist that she take the mattress and that his son could stand a few nights of ensuring his old man's occasional snoring. "I'm not that loud, really."

"Really?" Craig challenged.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Dinner was spent talking mostly about what each of the three had done that day. Marie found it very refreshing to speak of such things around the table like a family; speaking with Robert and Craig was so very much different -- and so very much more enjoyable -- than conversing with her masters or their patrons had been over the years past.

"You cooked," Robert said when they were each sufficiently full for the night. "We'll clean up."

"Wow, didn't see that coming," Marie said, chuckling. "And I was about to accuse you of directing me toward more woman's work."

She helped them clear the table, though, before finding a seat near the crackling fire. From there, she studied the two men, smiling to them or making playful comments about their work any time they looked her way. Marie found them to be so alike in some ways while also so different in others. Robert was more serious about getting his work done, timely and efficiently. Craig had a tendency of interrupting each new task with a glance Marie's direction.

Even though she probably shouldn't, Marie found herself considering each of the men as a lover. There again she saw -- or imagined -- differences. She imagined Robert as a caring, dedicated lover who lived by the motto ladies first, in this case speaking of orgasms; Craig she knew was a virgin and -- while young and virile -- would probably explode just seconds into serious sex regardless of how hard it fought it. Still, Marie also imagined that Craig would try, try again in an effort to ensure that his lover enjoyed herself as well.

They sat at the fire to continue their conversation, but it wasn't long before yawns were telling the trio that bedtime had arrived. Robert stressed, "Craig will sleep with me in my room tonight, Marie. You take the mattress out here."

"No, no!" she tried countering, saying, "I'm not going to steal Craig's bed from him."

But Robert insisted, and Craig went along with it, either because he knew it was the right thing to do or simply because he knew he had no choice. She laughed about Craig's insistence that his father did in fact snore, then -- as the men laid out the mattress -- she excused herself to the bedroom to don a pair of pajamas she'd found amongst Carolyn's things. When she returned, she caught the look she received from the men, again asking politely, "These are okay I hope?"

The men stoked the fire and blew out all but one lantern, leaving the last one near to Marie with just barely enough wick up for a flame to act as a nightlight. Once they'd left her alone, she slipped into the bed and made herself comfortable. Despite being old, the mattress was still quite comfortable; Robert had fetched a clean pair of sheets and an extra blanket should she need it. She'd expected him to wonder about the blanket Marie had hidden to later be washed and cleaned when they weren't paying attention.

She couldn't fall asleep for the longest time, despite the hard work over so many hours. The strangeness of her new domicile was too much for her brain to simply turn off because it was time to do so. As she stared at the ceiling and listened to the fire crackle, Marie considered how her luck had so radically changed in such a short time.

Eventually, her eyes did close, and her brain did turn off, permitting her to slip off into a deep, comforting sleep.

 

[HumanBean]

Craig was the first to awake the next morning. His first thought was, of course, This isn't my bed, which was immediately followed by Marie!

He rolled to find his dad still asleep. They'd worked hard the day before, so it was possible that Robert could remain asleep a while longer. Craig slipped gently out of the bed and tiptoed into the other room.

He found Marie still asleep as well and stood over her for a moment, simply admiring her. She seemed like such an angel just lying there so peacefully.

As quietly as he could, Craig added fuel to the fires in both the fireplace and the wood stove. Before the apocalypse, it would have been traditional to start a pot of coffee or put on water for tea. Craig didn't know anything about either of those, though, as the family had never had either during his life here.

Still in his wool pajamas and donning his boots, Craig went outside to gather what eggs had already been laid. After that, he milked one of the two producing goats. He put the container of milk inside a larger container which he then filled with water from the well. With any luck, the milk will be pleasantly cooled in time for breakfast.

He quietly stepped back into the house, finding that Marie had awoken while he was outside.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Marie stirred while Craig was fueling the wood stove on the far side of the cabin's biggest room. She peeked over at him, studying him as he worked quietly; she appreciated his desire not to disturb her, even if it was unnecessary. It was ironic that Marie yearned for coffee while the teen had never seen, let alone smelled or tasted it before.

Despite the collapse of civilization, coffee was still available out in the world beyond this property. Farmers and producers in South and Central America were still shipping coffee north to what remained of the United States and Canada. Of course, it was so expensive that few could afford to purchase it. Those who could more often than not got their money or trade goods through nefarious means, specifically pillaging and robbing businesses, homes, and individuals. Coffee had become the new cocaine in America.

She closed her eyes to bare slits to surreptitiously watch the teen don his boots and exit the house. Once he was gone, Marie rose, donned the robe she'd brought out with her the previous night, and slipped into her own pair of boots. She went out into the cold of the pre-sunrise morning and hurried to the outhouse to pee. She'd never once had to do this before the apocalypse; Marie's family hadn't been big on camping.

She got back to the house, shed her boots, and went to stand before the roaring fire with her robe wide open, the waves of heat wonderfully comforting. When she was once again warm, Marie shed the robe and prepared to change clothes. She paused, though, knowing that she was lacking any sort of privacy standing here in the middle of the men's home.

Tiptoeing across to the bedroom entry, she pulled the drapery open just enough to peek inside. Robert was still asleep, laying there with the bedding pushed down to his belly. Marie couldn't help but spend a moment staring at his bared torso; he was a fit man with just enough hair on his chest for a woman to toy with during intimate moments.

She gave up her peeping and returned to the living room to look out the window for the younger man. Marie caught sight of Craig walking past the opened doorway of the goat barn from one side of the other. He seemed busy enough for her to not worry too much about him; she had no idea that he'd just finished his work and was heading this way.

Marie had unbuttoned and shed her pajama top, then pushed her bottoms off and stepped out of them just as the teen opened the door and stepped inside. She was standing in profile to Craig when she met his gaze. She should have hidden her womanly features behind her hands, her clothes, or the bedding which she'd previously tossed into the nearby chair for folding. Instead, Marie simply stood there, watching Craig watch her.

"Turn around," she finally said with a polite tone and a smile; she reached out a hand with its index finger extended, gesturing with a circle what she wanted him to do.

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: I looked for a nude or partially nude image of the actress representing your character, Melissa O'neil. I couldn't find anything I thought I could use here. I did as you suggested earlier and simply picked out a pic that made my motor run. It's used below, a bit out of context.)

Craig was still concerned that Marie might be sleeping when he returned. He entered the house as quietly as he could. Even before he closed the door, he stopped short in shock at the sight of Marie nearly naked. In just her panties, she stood in profile to him, unaware of Craig's presence.

He didn't know how long he stared at her. It could have been seconds or minutes. The only gauge of time was that by the time she caught sight of him there, his cock was almost nearly fully hard. They stared at each other a long moment before she gestured to him. "Turn around."

Craig didn't do as asked immediately. He was overwhelmingly entranced by her, even more so than the day before when he ogled her though the opened window. But finally, he turned in profile to her as she was too him. Softly, he said, "Sorry. I, I didn't mean, didn't mean to stare."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

(OOC: Great pic! I didn't realize that that site included erotic images -- ads -- other than the one at which we were looking. No biggie?)

When Craig turned away from her, Marie's first thought was to look toward the bedroom for Robert. Luckily, the teen's father didn't seem to have risen yet.

Marie retrieved her clothes and donned them, covering the nakedness that had so entranced Craig. When she'd finished, she wore a tight pair of jeans that seriously hugged her ass, and a tee shirt and bra that accentuated her bosom.

She crossed to where Craig was standing idly by, waiting for Marie to dress. She stopped in front of him, waiting for him to look her in the eyes. She smiled and said softly, "You don't need to apologize, Craig. You did nothing wrong. I ... shouldn't have been changing like that ... in the open."

She gave him a chance to respond, then smirked knowingly. In barely more than a whisper, Marie asked, "Do you like looking at me?"

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: Great pic! I didn't realize that that site included erotic images -- ads -- other than the one at which we were looking. No biggie?)

OOC: No, not a biggie to me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx​

"You don't need to apologize, Craig," Marie said softly. "You did nothing wrong."

"I'm sure I did," Craig said, clarifying, "I shouldn't have been staring at you like that."

"I ... shouldn't have been changing like that," she told him, adding, "...in the open."

Craig couldn't help but glance down to Marie's bosom as she talked about having been naked when he entered. Even now, in a bra and tee shirt, he couldn't help but envision those delicious tits and the perfect body that sported them. He glanced toward the bedroom, fearing that his father might be listening in on the conversation. Luckily, he was a no show so far.

Then Marie surprised him by asking, "Do you like looking at me?"

Craig's heart leapt in his chest. A shiver ran up his spine and goose bumps exploded over his arms. Then, his face filled with a bright red blush as he smiled, embarrassed. After a long moment, he whispered, "Yes." Another moment passed and he added, "You're so beautiful."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

"Yes," Craig answered when Marie asked if he'd enjoyed looking at her. "You're so beautiful."

She smiled wide, saying, "Thank you, Craig."

In the next room, the sound of Robert moving about caught their attention. Marie backed a step out of instinct, knowing that it wouldn't be taken well from the two of them to be standing so close together. When she was sure that his father wasn't at the door, Marie told Craig, "Until we have a chance to talk about this more ... I think we should keep what happened her between us ... okay?"

 

[HumanBean]

"Until we have a chance to talk about this more," Marie said quietly, "I think we should keep what happened her between us ... okay?"

Craig nodded and did as she had, stepping back a bit. A moment later, Robert swept the bedroom entrance's drape back and stepped out, stopping short at the sight of the other two standing a few steps apart near the front entrance. He asked, "What's up?"

"Nothing, dad," Craig said immediately. He was still holding the bucket with the cooling bottle of milk. He held it up for his viewing, then said, "Just showing Marie what I did this morning."

"Both goats?" Robert asked, heading for the kitchen.

"No, just Mabel," Craig said. "I need to milk Jessie still."

"After breakfast," his father said. Robert looked their newest roomie up and down as he fetched glasses for the three of them, saying with a smile, "You look as nice as ever, Marie."

They began setting the table and preparing breakfast. Craig fetched the basket of eggs and filled it with a couple of more that had been laid in the meantime. When he got back, he found a frying pan with hot corn oil ready for him.

They talked about the day's work as they cooked and ate. Today, Robert and Craig would start the planting with both seeds saved from the previous harvest and starts from the greenhouse. The older man offered, "You can come out and help if you want, Marie."

"What about the new cabin, dad?" Craig asked.

"We'll start working on it soon, son," Robert answered. "Let's get the stuff done that needs to be done first."

He looked to Marie, asking, "Were you okay on Craig's mattress last night?"

They would discuss the sleeping arrangements some more, clean up the table, and head off to start their day.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Marie could see the suspicion in Robert's reaction to finding her and Craig together near the door. His son tried to make things seem innocent, and Marie hopped in saying, "I was asking where the eggs were, too. I was thinking about making omelets if y'all wanted."

They talked about the day's work, as well as Marie's new home. She reassured them, "I'm fine as I am for now. There's no rush, really.

They finished and -- after Marie found some old, worn out, and more comfortable clothes -- went outside to work on the garden. She had no idea what she was doing and was eager to learn what it took to make a productive garden. Marie knew that the men had planted an array of crops the previous year from not just her cooking yesterday and this morning but from her raids on the pantry the two days prior to that.

She broke off a couple of hours later to fetch a snack, then again two hours after that to make sandwiches and heat up some canned stew. Off and on, one or more of them would go do chores, but they returned to planting until they'd put everything in the ground that Robert said was ready.

There were more starts and seed to go into the ground over the days and even weeks to some, though. The men explained to Marie that they planted some of the crops in succession -- a few rows now, a few rows a few days after that, repeat, repeat -- so that they would have crops maturing over the course of weeks.

It made total sense to Marie, even if she had never thought of it before. Her only experience with farming during her childhood had been driving past fields full of plants one day, then driving pass them later to find them all gone. She didn't know that that was how crops were grown commercially; one field was planted early and harvested early, while another -- then another and another -- were planted later and, thus, harvested later. That was how the canneries kept operating for weeks, not just days, during the harvest season.

Gardening was done the same way, apparently, though row by row, not field by field. By the time they finished and broke for dinner, Marie felt like she'd learned so much by making so many inquiries. Repeatedly, she worried and asked, "Am I driving you nuts with my questions? Tell me if I am."

Inside again, Marie took control of the bedroom, stripped, stood in the tub to take a quick sponge bath, donned clean clothes, and headed back out to the kitchen to help with dinner. They spent the time as usual, talking about the work ahead. When they got to dessert, Marie asked if they could sit in the living room by the fire, and when they were there, she asked a question she'd been wanting more details on but had until now avoided asking.

"Would you tell me how you ended up here, Robert?"

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: HISTORY. I'm putting this word here to act as a marker, since we don't have an OOC.)

Robert retrieved a bag of dehydrated apple slices from the inside pantry and fresh strawberries from the cooler box for dessert. He smothered the latter in cream skimmed from today's milk and honey from the hive they kept to pollenate their crops. They took seats near the fire to discuss the day.

They'd talked about what they'd done today and what they'd do tomorrow. Then, Marie surprised Robert by suddenly asking, “Would you tell me how you ended up here, Robert?”

“How,” Robert repeated. “Well, that'll take a while to answer properly. Are you sure you're up for a long, involved story?”

Marie was, so Robert explained, “It began with my father-in-law, Carolyn’s father. Well, actually, it began a lot farther back than that, but for Craig, Carolyn, and I, it started with George. This property was a wedding present for us from him.

"While Carolyn and I were dating," he continued, his gaze settling on the dancing flames of the fire as he reminisced, "I'd often talked about wanting to live off grid. Little did I know that Carolyn's family, the Owens, owned this piece of land. Actually, they didn't own it. They had a gold mining claim on it."

“We're in the middle of the Everett National Monument,” Craig took over for a moment. “But grampa’s grampa, my great-great-grampa, he had the claim a long time ago before President Obama made it a Monument, so the claim was grandfathered in, no pun intended.”

The teen chucked, asking, “Did I use that right?”

Robert told him he did, then resumed explaining, “Carolyn’s ancestors had panned for gold in the creek the cuts through the south end of the property. They never found much, but it was enough to keep them coming out here a handful of times a year for decades. By the time Carolyn’s father, George, came about, the family had given up on the panning and were simply spending summers and long, holiday weekends up here, recreating.

“George's father and uncles built this cabin and some of the outbuildings," he went on. "As a mining claim, they were required to either invest a specific amount of money each year in improvements or produce a minimum dollar figure in exploited resources or a mandated combination of the two. To maintain the claim, they sort of fudged on the figures--"

"Fudged means lied," Craig said, laughing, "in case you didn't know."

Robert laughed as well. "So long as the annual paperwork showed that they were either spending money or earning money, thereby stimulating the local economy, the Owens retained the mining claim. When Carolyn and I took possession, we continued the family tradition of fudging the numbers."

"Then the world ended," Craig cut in again, "and we moved up here."

Robert drew, held, and released a deep breath as he recalled those days. "As soon as we heard about the virus, we knew we had to come up here. It was killing thousands, then tens of thousands every day, all across the world. We hit the stores for food and other supplies, using both of our rigs with trailers behind them, filling them with things from home. Then headed up here to get away."

Again, Craig chimed in, saying, "I don't remember this 'cause I was too young, but there used to be a road that came all the way up here."

"They closed it to all traffic when the area became a Monument," Robert once again explained, "but with the mining claim, we were allowed to use it. Bad part was that the government had removed all the bridges and culverts on the road that came up here. Oh, we could make it with my four-by-four, but Carolyn's SUV and the trailers were a no-go.

"We made six trips from the last accessible point to here before we got everything here. After that, we hid the vehicles and trailers down the road in a ravine in an effort to keep anyone from ever thinking there might be something up here of interest. And that's it. We've been here ever since."

"I like it here," Craig said, smiling to his father, then to Marie. "I mean, I don't remember much of anything else. I was only two."

Robert's lips spread in a happy smile. "My son found a place here like nothing he could have found out there in the world. I mean, most people were obsessed with their tech': cell phones, iPods, laptops, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. I was working an average of 60 hours a week to pay for everything we had. Carolyn was keeping house, taking care of Craig and I, and working 30 hours at her business."

"Mom had a shop where she sold fiber stuff and taught people what to do with them," Craig said, just as proudly. "She taught me how to do cross stitch when I was just four." He pointed to a simple, childish piece of art on the wall, saying, "I did that. Might not look like much, but I did it on my fifth birthday, so..."

Robert's expression became solemn, thinking about that time. Craig saw it, saying with a soft tone, "Mom died a couple of days later."

His father looked to him with eyes that began to glaze over. Robert headed off the tears with a couple of blinks of his eyes, though. Carolyn had likely died of pneumonia, but the two men never talked about it. He went on, "So, there's 20 acres in total, about half of it open for farming and ranching. The other half, encircling the farm, is forest, some of it virgin Old Growth. The biggest patch of virgin forest is at the south end, surrounding the creek.

"There's a deep ravine to the west and most of the north of the property," Robert said, pointing in those directions as if Marie needed to know which was which. It's what protects us from outsiders on those sides. When the Owens first got here, of course, the whole region to the east and south was Old Growth Forest. The timber companies came in and cut most of it down, except to the south of here. Most of the trees they replaced them with were Douglas fir, of course. Monoculture."

He said that last word with an obvious distaste for the concept of tree plantations. "There was a big fire through here about 40 years ago, made worse because a bug infestation had run through the plantation portion of the forest uncontrolled. But they replanted and even brought in a bit of variety and used some of that dreaded science to produce a healthier forest.

"Ironically, while I might sound like a tree hugger," Robert said, smiling, "I would be drawn and quartered by the real conservationists if they saw what I'd done with the Himalayan blackberries. We had a few visits from outsiders after the virus had run through the population. It was some scary times, not knowing whether or not these people were carriers or not. After the last group came through, we decided we needed to find a way to block others. So, we planted blackberries."

"Dad had to explain to me what an invasive species was," Craig offered.

"Carolyn and I went out to the edge of the monument," Robert told her, "where there were blackberries growing next to the roads and streams. We dug up a couple of hundred bits of root over what was thankfully a mild winter and transplanted them all up and down the fence that Carolyn's father and his father had put in to mark the border of the claim.

"To our great surprise and delight, most of them rooted and took off. Within four years, the briar hedge was ten feet tall and twenty feet across along most of the length. It's gotten to be even thicker since then."

"There hasn't been anyone else here 'cept for you in a long time," Craig said. "The ravine and the blackberries keep them out, assuming there's anyone out there at all."

"Since then, we've lived off the land," Robert said. "We had a couple of acres of wheat our first two years, but some sort of blight ruined the crop. We'd brought heirloom vegetables, root crops, trees, and more."

"Chickens, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits," Craig continued the list. "And birds: chickens, ducks. We even had quail, but they got loose and are all wild now. Feral I mean."

"They do pretty good without our help, and we catch some in our traps sometimes, so it's not like we're missing anything."

Robert realized that he'd been rambling on and finally went quiet. He looked to Marie, asking, "Wanna reciprocate by telling us how you got here?"

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

(OOC: HISTORY. I like that idea! I wonder if maybe we should start an OOC?)

Marie partook of the delicious desserts as Robert -- with Craig's occasional input -- spoke about how the two of them had ended up out here in the middle of the Everett National Monument. Some of it she already knew, of course, having learned those details yesterday after Robert had discovered her stealing from them and yet still invited her to become part of their little community.

As the men continued, Marie couldn't help but think about how the differences in their ages had resulted in a much different understanding of the world. The end of the world as they'd known it had come 16 years ago. Robert had grown up during the pre-apocalypse years, even marrying and having a child before the collapse. Craig had been 2 years old when his family had moved here to the property, so the farm and everything surrounding it were really all he knew.

For her part, Marie -- who would be turning 24 in two weeks -- had been an elementary school student when the end came. She remembered all of that technology that Robert now said he could do without; she'd partaken of much of it and had been excited about those things that had still been ahead of her.

When Robert asked her is she wanted to reciprocate, Marie had to contemplate just what she wanted to say. Her life post-apocalypse hadn't generally been happy times. But there were things about her life that were shameful. Oh, she hadn't been responsible for most of what had happened to her of course, but that didn't make Marie feel easier about those times.

"When everything went crazy," she began, "my mother and I stayed hidden inside our apartment building for a long time. We were the only ones who stayed behind; almost a thousand people lived in that building, and we were the only ones who stayed. The others died of the virus or fled the city. We lived by breaking into other apartments and taking the food and bottled water and other things that they'd left behind."

She ate another bit of apple, then continued, "I was eight when this all started, and we were still there almost to my tenth birthday. When things got desperate, we ... innovated ... got creative. We'd been catching rainwater for a long time and -- when the food ran out -- we started trapping birds on the roof and cats and raccoons and other things on the street and cooking them."

Marie paused a moment, contemplating how to continue. "Then we got caught. A group that called themselves the Survivors Militia. They were all immunes, like my mom and I ... me. They were actually pretty advanced for the time. They had electricity and gasoline production. They had armored cars that they used to raid communities, taking their resources and even their people..."

She paused, looking to Craig with concern, then to Robert before clarifying, "...particularly ... their women."

Marie paused to see if Robert would suggest that she didn't further continue with that topic. He would certainly understand what she meant; Craig's understanding was questionable. Marie decided to skip over the subject, continuing, "The SurMil ... the Survivors Militia ... one of their more senior men took a shining to my mother and took us into his home. We lived with him for five years ... maybe six."

Her tone became solemn, just as Robert's had when he'd begun talking about his wife's death. "Then, my mother got sick and died: fever. Don't know exactly what it was that killed her. When that happened, I was, um ... transferred to another man's home. Rupert was the Chief of the SurMil ... the head guy. He ... he wanted me for ... his home, to serve him there. I was 14."

Marie could see in Robert's reaction that he knew what serve him meant, and not wanting Craig to ask questions she wasn't prepared to answer, she instead continued, "I clean and cooked ... and other stuff. But ... he wasn't a very nice man, and I wanted to get away. One night, after a lot of planning, I escaped. I had help, from another guy who wanted me to be his girlfriend. I didn't want that, though, so as soon as I could, I got away from him, too."

She popped a strawberry into her mouth, then continued, "But I ended up with a progression of even worse men. It wasn't a happy time for me, needless to say. It was like every time I got away from one bad guy, I ended up with another worse one. Until a few days ago. One last escape ... and ... here I am."

 

[HumanBean]

Robert's POV:

Listening to Marie speak about herself was heartbreaking for Robert. He understood what she was saying about her first years, living with her mother in their apartment building. As a child, growing up without a father, Robert's family had been poor, living through many lean years. There had been times when he'd gone to bed hungry more nights than not. They'd never been driven to eating songbirds or feral cats and dogs. But if it had been acceptable in those days to do such a thing, Robert would have been out hunting dinner with his pellet gun without question.

The true heartbreak for him, of course, was hearing what had happened to Marie after her mother's death. Her comment about the SurMil being partial to particularly women captives was understood. And being transferred to another man's home could only mean that she'd been traded or sold as a sex slave to serve the man.

"I was 14," Marie said. "I clean and cooked ... and other stuff."

Robert nodded his head softly to her, showing his understanding. Throughout history, when times were tough and, in particular, law and order had been pushed aside, women had often become nothing more than property and sexual servants to the men who controlled them.

As she talked about the series of men who'd controlled her, Robert quietly said, "I'm sorry that happened to you, Marie."

He could have said more, of course. He had so many other things in his mind that he wanted to say to her. But looking to his son, Robert could see that Craig wasn't grasping what Marie was saying without actually saying it. He preferred that it stayed that way.

...............................

Craig's POV:

Just as his father was hoping, Craig didn't understand the sexual implications that Marie was making about her time in the control of men. They were experiences that were far outside his understanding. When Marie spoke about her mother dying, he expressed his sorrow for her. And when she talked about the hard times, he again spoke variations of I'm sorry that happened to you.

But when she finished, his mind was filled with questions about her upbringing. What is an apartment building? How could a thousand people live in the same place? Did you feel bad stealing from other people's homes?

Of course, Craig had no idea that when his father had first encountered Marie, Robert had caught her stealing from them. This had been kept from him in an effort not to hinder his acceptance of a stranger in their home.

Then he asked, "Do you miss your mother? I miss mine, even though I really didn't know her. I mean, I was only two. I don't think I really remember her, but dad talks about her. Still."

Craig looked to his father, smiling. "Most of what I know about her I know because dad really loved her. He didn't want her memory to die, I guess."

"You're right, son," Robert confirmed, his eyes glazing over with tears that he successfully fought off with several rapid blinks.

Looking back to Marie, Craig asked tentatively, "So, where you were from, there were more girls?"

He paused for Marie to respond if she wished, then asked, "We're they all pretty? Like you?"